Step into the Cobb Home Innovations experience center, and you step into Hugh Cobb’s real-life house. The residence has been fully renovated and is built to give Cobb Home Innovations customers a first-hand look at the latest array of residential A/V and smart home technology.

Cobb designed the Woodbury, Tenn., home to be comfortable but also as a way to showcase how technology doesn’t have to be cookie-cutter or difficult to operate. What started out as a house flip project for Cobb and his wife, Joyce, turned into a full-scale overhaul.

Hugh Cobb grew up in his family’s electronics retail business, and Cobb Home Innovations garners clients from Florida to Tennessee, where the show home is based outside Nashville; it’s even been highlighted in Murfreesboro Magazine.

Hands-On with Fully Integrated Experience

As the home took shape, it opened up new ideas and possibilities for Cobb and his wife.

Every area is integrated with technology that blends in and simplifies the user experience, from control and automation of camera and security systems to the entrance gate and garage doors to water valves and lighting, shading, audio and video (there’s a home theater featuring 4K projection from JVC and a star ceiling, other media rooms with large flat panels and surround audio systems, a rack featuring Denon and Sonos gear, etc.).

“Technology can be scary. There’s that element of the unknown,” Cobb says. “My goal was to have a place where customers can come see these solutions operating in a real-world home scenario and give them ideas of what’s possible within their own home rather than trying to imagine what the experience would be like from a mass merchant.”

“My goal was to have a place where customers can come see these solutions operating in a real-world home scenario and give them ideas of what’s possible within their own home."

— Hugh Cobb

Cobb’s vision required an open control and automation platform that could easily integrate all new technologies.

Integrated RTI Control System Runs the Show

In 2008, Cobb became an RTI and Pro Control dealer after being won over by the systems’ capabilities and price points.

The RTI and Pro Control systems (an RTI XP-6 processor backbones his home install, with a ZM-24 ZigBee module and controls via T2i, T2x and T3x remotes) also allow him to develop drivers for his own patented products, including décor tile that can be installed even in wet areas of a home.

From an RTI interface, users can easily adjust the color or brightness of the tile. Control capabilities also extend outdoors, lifting screens hidden in furniture, powering the fireplace, and operating the water feature.

“RTI allows me to integrate literally everything,” he says. “When [prospects] see what they can do with one button from a controller, from turning off water valves to closing their gate and even tap into their voice control speaker, it really drives home what technology can do for them.

"Our home offers a unique experience and it’s had a tremendous influence on our clients.”

Check out a slideshow of everything from the front and back of the Cobbs' house to several media rooms and more.

Most technology products are not that visually appealing. Black boxes and tangled wires do not add to the character of a high-end smart home project. Luckily, our integrator readers have a number of clever solutions so these components don’t have to be visible in your next project.